Voice Over Recording While Camping–The Zoom H2 Saves My Butt

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You’d think it would be a pretty good bet that I could take a week off without having to record any audio. After all, I’d had to actively submit auditions for all the voice over jobs I’d gotten at that point. So you might imagine my surprise when I got an e-mail on the 2nd day out (why was I checking e-mail? Brand new iPhone…but that’s a different story:)) I received an offer for a voice over job I hadn’t even auditioned for. And they couldn’t wait a week. It was take-it-or-leave-it. So I decided to give it a shot. Here is all the equipment I had with me.

We were going to be doing some singing, which is the only reason I had the recorder.

Anyway, here is how it went. The client e-mailed some scripts and instructions. I used my iPhone to read the scripts, holding it in one hand, and recorded all my parts while holding the Zoom H2 in my other hand. Once I had recorded all my files, I ejected the SD card from the H2 and put it into my netbook. I used the Internet Tethering feature of the iPhone to connect my netbook to the web, downloaded Audacity, and edited the audio files (noise gating and reduction, cutting out bad takes, etc.). Finally I uploaded the files to the client’s website.

It was definitely a first for me. What made it work was that the Zoom H2 can record at up to 24-bit/96kHz on its stereo mic setup. The client specifically requested a minimum of 24 bit and a 44.1 KHz sampling rate. I could not have done it with a really cruddy mic.

If you’d like to get an idea of how the audio turned out, listen to the audio here:

So now I know there is no reason to ever fear losing out on a recording gig when I’m on the go. All 3 required items fit very easily into a quite small hand bag or back pack.

Happy recording!

Ken

ps – By popular demand, here is an audio clip from the actual job – the final audio sent to the client.

Comments

I’m curious about voice over work, and your situation intrigues me. I assume you record jobs from your own home studio if you get the job. What about the background music? Does the client usually have that already picked out and edited, of which they send to you, and you fit the script over it? Or do you read it dry and the music is added afterward? I’m curious how that works. Thanks! Really enjoying your site.

Hi Jesse – Sorry for the delay in replying to your question. Yes, I do record voice over jobs from my home studio. The ones that require background music often do provide their own music track via mp3. The way I incorporate it is to record the voice part on track 1 in Reaper, and then insert the music track on track 2. I then adjust the volumes of both so the music is truly “background” and the voice can be heard clearly. I did a video on how to do this, actually, which you can see here: http://www.homebrewaudio.com/3439/reaper-tutorial-video/